The Commonwealth Games begin this Thursday in Glasgow, Scotland, bringing together some 3,000 athletes from 74 countries to compete in 10 different sports over the course of 11 days.
In terms of scale and public interest, the Commonwealths are of course much smaller than the Summer Olympics. But something they have in, well, common is that swimming and track and field are the marquee sports.
With that in mind, we’ll look at the Canadians swimmers to watch at the Commonwealth Games today, followed by track and field tomorrow.
Liendo takes the torch from Summer
For many athletes, the Commonwealth Games are a stepping stone to success at the next Olympics. That was certainly the case for Summer McIntosh at the 2022 Commonwealths in Birmingham, England. Just 15 years old at the time, the Canadian swimming phenom won a pair of individual golds and a silver along with three relay medals. Two years later at the Paris Olympics, she captured a Canadian-record three golds and a silver.
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After upgrading her haul to four golds and a silver at last year’s world championships, McIntosh now has her sights set on matching Michael Phelps’ Olympic record of five solo golds at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. However, the Commonwealth Games are not part of her journey this time as she’s opted to compete in next month’s Pan Pacific championships in California instead.
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Also skipping the Commonwealths for the Pan Pacs is Taylor Ruck, who racked up a record-trying eight medals (including relays) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and won all five of her events at the Canadian trials earlier this month.
In their absence, the top Canadian swimmer to watch in Glasgow is Josh Liendo. The 23-year-old from Toronto won gold in the 100m butterfly at the 2022 Commonwealths, then took silver in that event at the 2024 Olympics — one spot ahead of fellow Canadian Ilya Kharun, who’s now swimming for the United States after switching allegiances last winter. Liendo also claimed a silver in the 100m butterfly fly at the 2023 world championships and a bronze at the 2022 worlds.
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Along with the 100 fly, Liendo is slated to swim the 50m butterfly, the 50m freestyle and the 100m freestyle, and he should compete in multiple relays. He was a bronze medallist in the 100m freestyle at the 2022 world championships and in the 50 free at that year’s Commonwealths.
For more on Liendo, who is the only Black Canadian swimmer to win an Olympic medal, read this piece by CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux.
Other Canadians to watch
While Liendo is the best swimmer right now on Canada’s Commonwealth team, the most accomplished is Kylie Masse. The 30-year-old backstroke specialist from LaSalle, Ont., has won four individual Olympic medals, tying her with McIntosh for the all-time lead among Canadian swimmers, and five solo medals at the world championships, including three golds. Masse captured back-to-back world titles in the 100m in 2017 and ’19 and added a 50m gold in 2022.
Masse also earned six individual Commonwealth medals across the past two Games, highlighted by three golds — in the 50m backstroke in 2022 and the 100 and 200 in 2018.
In Glasgow, Masse is scheduled to swim the 50 and 100m events and also step out of her backstroke comfort zone for the 50m butterfly. She could also swim the backstroke leg in the women’s and mixed medley relays.
Back over to the men’s side, Canada has another multi-medal contender in Oliver Dawson. The 18-year-old from Grande Prairie, Alta., swept the breaststroke events at the Canadian trials, winning gold in the 50m, 100m and 200m.
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Canadian teen Oliver Dawson making waves in breaststroke
At the Commonwealth Games, Para swimming events take place concurrently with the Olympic-class races. Canada is led by Danielle Dorris, who has won back-to-back Paralympic golds and three straight world titles in the women’s 50m butterfly S7 category and also owns a world title and an Olympic silver in the 100m backstroke.
Other top Canadians include Sebastian Massabie, the reigning Paralympic champion in the men’s 50m freestyle S4; Mary Jibb, whose three medals at last year’s Para world championships included a gold in the women’s 200m individual medley SM9; and Nicolas-Guy Turbide, a two-time Paralympic medallist and former world champion in the men’s 100m backstroke S13 who won gold in the 50m freestyle at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Nicholas Bennett, who won two golds and a silver at the 2024 Paralympics, is not competing in the Commonwealths. Same for six-time Paralympic champion Aurélie Rivard, who took gold in the women’s 400m freestyle S10 two years ago in Paris.
Canadian medal projections
We asked our friends at Shoreview Sports Analytics to crunch the numbers, and their model predicts Canada will win eight medals in the Olympic-class swimming events in Glasgow. Individually, Liendo leads the way with a gold and two bronze, while Dawson and Masse combined for three silvers.
Here’s a list of the projected medals for Canada’s Olympic-class swimmers, including each athlete/team’s probabilities of winning gold and earning a medal of any colour in that particular event.
How to watch
The Commonwealth Games swimming events begin this Friday and run through July 29. The morning heats start at 5:30 a.m. ET and the finals at 2 p.m. ET each day. You can watch them live on CBC Gem.
Here’s more on how to watch the Commonwealth Games on CBC’s streaming and television platforms, and here’s a look at the broadcast team and coverage details.
For the latest news, results and video, and full streaming and broadcast schedules, visit CBC Sports’ Commonwealth Games website.
